OREANDA-NEWS  The French company TotalEnergies got rid of the lubricants plant in the Kaluga region — the enterprise was transferred to local management. This was reported to TASS by the commercial and marketing director of the new owner of the plant, LLC Top Lubricants, Egor Popov.

The Russian plant will start producing oils under the Lemarc brand — the previously stopped production will resume in March. In particular, from March 15, the plant will start operating normally.

The new owner of the company stressed that 90 percent of the total number of employees will keep their jobs.

A plant in the Kaluga Region for the production of motor oils and lubricants was opened in 2018. Its production capacity reached about 40 thousand tons per year. By the time of launch, the volume of investments in the project amounted to about $ 50 million. At the same time, the plant assumed expansion — the launch of the second line, which would increase the capacity to 70 thousand tons per year.

TotalEnergies announced its desire to leave the Russian market after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. The company announced its decision to abandon purchases of oil and petroleum products back in March 2022, as well as the rejection of new investments. In August, TotalEnergies sold Novatek its 49 percent stake in the Terneftegaz company, which is engaged in the thermokarst field development project.

Nevertheless, some of the company's enterprises in Russia continue to work — in November, the CEO of TotalEnergies explained this by the need to ensure energy supplies to Europe.